Montag, 14. Dezember 2009

I have been waiting for a day like Saturday at least since July 21st 2001. Then, I was as happy as I could have been, to have brought several thousands to the streets of Bonn to build a ´Lifeboat for the Climate´. The G8 summit was happening at the same time in Genoa, so most activists were further south. Hence, we considered this an excellent turnout. Still, ever since that day - at least - I have been dreaming of a true mass mobilization against the climate catastrophe. For some years, that aim seemed to allude us. I attended plenty of civil society meetings all over the world on "building a climate movement". But while UN climate negotiations were bogged down in technical detail, it was a tad difficult to explain why people should wave placards on the streets while rules for LULUCF were being decided (though they are darn important). Sure, tens of thousands turned out against coal plants recently, for example, and the global Climate Action Days have been growing in significance over time. But even the climate conference in Bali, Indonesia, that launched the treck to Copenhagen two years ago, was no site of mass mobilizations. - So, to arrive in Copenhagen on Saturday to be absorbed by a crowd of 100,000 (or so) felt truly special. The crowd was big - and it was wonderfully diverse too. It couldn´t quite match the diversity of the anti war march in London in 2003 (still the most impressive demonstration I have been part of). But for a climate rally (and I must have been to hundreds of those by now), the crowd was special. Global. Young. Determined. Heartening. The size of the crowd made finding ones friends difficult. But walking among strangers, I had a smile on my face. I was delighted that there were so many activists I had never seen. That this was not yet another gathering of the usual suspects, but the coming of age of a whole new climate movement. Hopefully, the demo was the initiation rite for many who will stay active from now on. Hopefully, the same spirit of diversity and strength was present at the unprecedenteed number of events around the world. - We do, of course, not know yet, whether we will get the "real deal" that the demos demanded. Much of what´s been talked about in the corridors of Copenhagen is nowhere near the kind of agreement the world needs. But at least the negotiations are real. There is real talk, a real sense of pressure. Normally, the first week of climate talks just meanders along frustratingly. But this time - not least due to the powerful intervention by Tuvalu - the talks have gotten down to substance - and politics - right away. Will it be enough? I confess, I have my doubts. Even the voice of 100,000 - and more - may yet be ignored. But still elated from that fine Saturday, I cannot but hope that Desmond Tutu´s prediction will be proven right: "They marched in Berlin and the wall fell. We marched in Cape Town and apartheid fell. We marched in Copenhagen and we are going to get a real deal!" - Certainly, what we got in Copenhagen is a climate movement. Let´s nurture it. Let´s continue to build it. Let´s make sure it is ready to force implementation if we get a deal in Copenhagen. And be ready to raise hell, if our so called leaders fail us - yet again.

Sonntag, 15. November 2009

After my previous experience, I expected beautiful lakes but not beers when holidaying in Sweden this summer. I also already knew that I had to look for energy-inefficient and nasty tasting cans when searching for organic brews in the local shops. So, I was delighted when I found Ekholmen Ekologiska Ale - a Swedish organic beer in a real glass bottle! Sadly, the beer isn´t as great as the packaging. It´s a mild ale and easy enough to swallow down. But it lacks distinction and almost tastes like a wanna-be Pilsner that didn´t quite make it. A bitterness lingers in the mouth, but there is no kick to it at all. Shockingly, therefore, I found the beers in cans (and from the brewing giants, as it turns out) better this time. - While the best thing about Krönleins green eko lager is it´s name, both it´s 2,8 and 3,5% versions are more exciting to drink than Halmstad - the place where it is brewed - is to strawl through. Krönleins is a family-owned brewery, though - and in the one local restaurant we tried in Halmstad, it was on tap. All that is commendable - and the beer is a good enough light accompaniement to a meal. - Better, though, are the Falcon Ekologisk series of beers, even though, yes, they are brewed by that purveyor of mediocrity: Carlsberg .... Their 3,5% Premium Lager is as good as you can expect a far too light beer to get. The 5,7% Special Brew version certainly tastes a lot better than normal Carlsberg. It´s probably meant to appear "heavy" and a little bitter. To my German palate, it therefore tastes like a real Pilsner. Not a brilliant one. But a perfectly drinkable one - especially with a stunning view of a lake ... - My Swedish favourite, though, is also from a giant. While I really didn´t like ABRO´s light organic beer, their "Starköl" Sigill is - by Swedish standards, at least ;-) - a real delight. It goes down smoothly, but has enough bitterness to not be bland, but Pils. I wouldn´t exactly import it, but I do wish I had found it earlier during our holiday. Next time, it´s the first one I will have when back in Sweden! Skål! P.S. And here is one of the lakes ;-)

Freitag, 6. November 2009

My daughter has been to a number of protests already. She mostly liked them, though a couple of times, the noise scared her. While marching against neoliberalism, coal plants or nuclear power, we often wondered, though, what she will make of the pictures of her as a baby demonstrator. Will she be appalled and join the neoliberals in protest? Or will she top it all, and start her own movement? We can only wait. And if she turns out like the kids in this video? Well, yeah, it would make daddy proud:

Montag, 13. Juli 2009

Plastic bags are a curse. They consume fossil fuels, are wasteful and ruin our oceans. That said, opposing plastic bags is also usually a pet project of people who want to be (seen to be) green without having to challenge power structures or consumption patterns head on. They are the kind of things Gordon Brown worries about. It´s all the more remarkable, that plastic bags have just gained a forceful new enemy. The inner city Manila boys - who were still street "gangsters" when they produced the excellent movie Tribu - have just joined the battle against plastics. Or so I gather - as plastics is the only part of the lyrics that I "understand". Their tune protests plastic bags destroying the Pasig river - Manila´s main artery. - I have walked along the Pasig. I walked along a bit of the river that town planners had tried to spruce up. This had not really worked - for two reasons. One, people still needed the river embankment to camp out - to eek out a living. The idea of a "recreational strawling space" in the middle of Manila proved a bit fanciful - given economic realities. The other reason was, indeed, plastic bags. They were everywhere. They made even the newly designed riverbed look just dirty and cheap. So, have fun with this inner city boys attack on plastic bags. Much more real, then pious words from Gordon!

Donnerstag, 18. Juni 2009

If this was the kind of product IKEA offered in their blue box shopping monster stores, I would be a better customer! For more good news of the future - read today´s "International Herald Tribune" here.

Dienstag, 9. Juni 2009

Of course, Shell insists that they do not accept liability. But them settling with Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr. and other plaintiffs for $15.5 million is a real victory for corporate accountability. It´s one of the largest such payments in history. Like the tobacco trials, this settlement will make other corporations think twice about their actions. Here is to hoping, that it will stop some from doing the things Shell stood accused of: supplying weapons, colluding with murder, devastating the communities in which they are operating. - 13 years of legal wrangling is a long, long time indeed. Part of me can´t quite comprehend yet that this is over. Part of me might have even enjoyed a prolongued trial, providing ample opportunity for Shell to get tangled up in their own misinformation. But if it´s hard for me to fathom that this is over - just imagine what it must be like for the plaintiffs. To get an inkling read Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr.´s moving reflections here.

Sonntag, 31. Mai 2009

The Kingsnorth 6 first stopped a massive coal power station for a day. Then they made legal history, when a middle England jury ruled that a bit of paint on a chimney is no harm, really, when you consider the consequences of coal burning for the planet and our future. In all likelihood, the Kingsnorth 6 have also killed off the string of new unabated coal plants that were planned in Britain, after this recent government announcement, which did mark real progress. The pressure needs to continue - and more activities will follow on July 4th. In the meantime, though, the Kingsnorth 6 deserve all the credit they can get. It´s wonderful, therefore, to see acclaimed filmmaker Nick Broomfield make a 20 minute documentary about these six extraordinary, ordinary heros. If you don´t have 20 minutes now, watch the trailor below. I am sure it will make you want to see the whole thing - which you can do here. Admiration. It´s the simplest word to describe what I feel. Admiration - and gratitude!

Montag, 11. Mai 2009

Truth be told, I miss Pascal Lamy. I used to meet the affable Frenchmen regularly when he was still pushing EU trade interests down other countries throats. As EU trade Commissioner, he used to meet NGO´s on his tours around Europe. Because he loves to debate and exercise not just his legs (he runs marathons), but also his sharp mind. Because he wants to try and pretend that EU trade policy is democratic. And because he tends to think he is the smartest man in the room. He likes debates, because he likes (to think he is) winning them. - Since 2005, he has been running the World Trade Organization. In that role, I have met him less often. I have missed the debates, but I guess there is still time. A few days back - without much public fanfare- Lamy was confirmed as DG of the WTO for another four years. So far, his track record in that job has been disappointing - especially for himself. For years, even back in his old job, he has been working to finish the Doha trade round. When he was appointed, he called finishing Doha "the top priority". Luckily - for people and the planet, at least - he has failed - so far. But I suspect he really wanted this second term to be the one laughing at the end. The one who finishes the Round most people have forgotten about only to then claim that Doha is the miracle cure against the global recession. You can be certain that Lamy and the WTO will argue that liberalizing global trade is what a world in recession really needs now more than ever. No matter that the evidence is long in, that further liberalization is the wrong answer. - I hope, therefore, that Lamy continues to be so (over-)ambitious in his liberalizing zeal that the rest of the world refuses to go along with a Doha deal. - And in memory of the good times I have had debating Lamy, I here post a video of one of my visits to the WTO in 2005. Not sure if it managed to change WTO trade policy. But the action you see on the video, I am told, did change one WTO policy: the security policy. Apparently, it has since become more difficult to approach the WTO building (which ironically used to be the ILO building!) from the Lake Geneva side. Well, at least it´s a measurable impact .... Enjoy.

Mittwoch, 6. Mai 2009

Growing up in (well, near) Heidelberg, I know all about tourists taking over a city and the locals being left wondering whether they are more than picture accessories. As a boy, I wore a T-shirt with the slogan "I am not a tourist, I live here" with pride. I even admit to being rude to tourists at times. When asked for directions to the Castle, say, I pointed out - in a rather direct German way - that for some people Heidelberg is a home, not a fairy tale. (Of course, I was only rude when I wasn´t busy milking tourists for their money as a busker ...) My Heidelberg experience is no doubt to blame, that I had to laugh out loud when I saw the above graffiti in Firenze last week ... Tourist season, by the way, had just started ...

Mittwoch, 15. April 2009

The miracle arrived. She is called Noni and, at three months, she has already changed the world: She has changed sleeping patterns and priorities. Above all, though, she has changed my attitude to time. The immediate and short term takes on a whole new significance as a parent. You live for the next feed, the next nappy change, the next time she sleeps. You wonder what the next night will be like (and sometimes bore friends with accounts of the last.) Being smiled at by my child gives me instant satisfaction. Hearing her make noises makes my heart jump. But none of this ever lasts more than seconds. And the switch to her crying can be just as fast. The short term, therefore, has new significance. Every moment has a new intensity. But at the same time, the truly long term is also more urgent than ever. The future has become tangible, visible: I can touch her. Of course, I always cared about the planet in 2050 or 2100. But now, our - and the planet´s - long term future stares me in the face every day. Looks inquisitive. Seems to wonder what world will await her. - In 2050, Noni will be barely older than I am now. In 2100, she may just still be alive. Will she live in a world that is 4-5 degrees warmer? Will she witness the (far too realistic) horror scenarios climate science provides? Will the welfare state be a history lesson for her and the idea that we could beat back genetic engineering seem quaint? Will she curse us, because we talked the good talk - and then got on the next flight? I don´t know. But the task of preventing a world I do not want Noni to witness has taken on new urgency over the last three months. You may call it the "parent paradox". I care even more about the long term future. But the short term also has a new urgency. Indeed, often, before I can get around to doing anything about the long term, one of the new short term tasks intervene. I have to walk around with her on my shoulder. I have to sing her to sleep. I cannot make this post any more eloquent (or wise), because, well, I have to change her nappy ... This ain´t a complaint, though. Life is richer this way; I have a smile on my face. But our collective task of treating us (and the planet we depend on) with basic decency has become ever more urgent! P.S. I should have known, of course . My friend Red told me all along: "Having children makes politics truly personal." As so often, he was right.

Samstag, 4. April 2009

In 1995, I spent many, many afternoons camped out in front of Shell petrol stations. Rain or shine, a good number of us were determined to make Shell notice that their complicity in atrocoties in Nigeria was not going unnoticed. We were called the "Edinburgh Coalition Against Shell" and a true coalition we were: Church people, students, Nigerians in exile, et al.. During all those hours in front of drab petrol stations, friendships were formed. There were bizarre moments, like when a lady stopped to thank us - and it turned out she worked for Exxon ... There were beautiful moments, like when some random person nobody had seen before, read out some of Ken Saro-Wiwa´s powerful poetry. There were - many - frustrated moments, when we seemed so small and insignificant and Shell customers did not care. There was real despair, when, on November 10th 1995, we learned that Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni leaders had, after all, been killed. Murdered. After a sham trial. Despite global protests and pleas from many who seemed important, but were impotent - like us. - Defeats like that stay with you. They are, like extinction, for ever. They never stop hurting. May be it would be wrong, if they did. - Yet, yet. Ken Saro-Wiwa would not want us to wallow in sadness. Facing the executioners, he reportedly said: "Lord, take my soul, but the struggle continues". Hence I applaud the efforts of enterprising lawyers, Earthrights and others. As a result of their tireless efforts on May 27th 2009, a landmark trial will start in New York - Wiwa vs Shell - finally. The event is significant enough to deserve a ´trailor´ - which you can watch below. To me, it was a bit scary to see all those images again. Aside from the new lawyer interviews, I think I knew every single image in this video. The devastation still makes my heart bleed. If you haven´t seen these images before ..., well, I hope they make you angry. May justice be done in New York, if over 12 years late! Mark May 27th in your diaries.

Mittwoch, 18. März 2009

It´s the sort of thing I have done many a times. A big international conference. The opening ceremony. Loads of media ... Media ready to cover your story, if you just do something simple: Hold up a sign, unfold a banner. That sort of thing. The UN has gotten pretty used to this type of protest - and thankfully pretty tolerant too! Even at the WTO opening ceremony in Cancun 2003 we were not sanctioned for holding up signs denouncing the WTO´s undemocratice free trade mania (see picture above). So, shame on Turkey for completely overreacting to the banner reading "No Risky Dams" my friend (and neighbour) Ann-Kathrin Schneider unfolded at the opening of the 5th World Water Forum. Ann Kathrin works for International Rivers and her story of being deported from Turkey for this peaceful banner action deserves to be heard:

Montag, 16. März 2009

Last time I checked, UNDP was a long way from being consistently climate-friendly in their statements and actions. But this add (below) is great. Another example of international agencies doing the kind of communication work which was once the preserve of NGOs. Which does, of course, pose the question of what the new role of civil society should be. Read Remi´s thoughts on that here - and please comment!

Donnerstag, 12. März 2009

Today, finally, Vattenfall spoke publicly.They confirmed what they have already told Berlin´s leaders: There will be no new coal plant in Berlin! They are even planning on finally shutting down one of the old coal plants in Berlin - if only in 2020. Vattenfall seems to have decided to turn Berlin into the place where they green their image. That´s good news for Berlin - though this must only be the beginning of a debate on Berlin´s sustainable energy future. The end of the Berlin plant, achieved by a strong networked local campaign must be the beginning of the end for new coal plants in Germany. Appropriatly, there was a little celebration outside the Rote Rathaus yesterday (see picture). Arguing that coal should only be used for barbecues, tofu sausages were served. Tasty. May there be many more barbecue fests around the country. Here is a map of the 25 plants that still need to be stopped.

Freitag, 6. März 2009

Mittwoch, 4. März 2009

Accepting anything called a "national imperative" is not easy for Germans on the Left. Rightly so, given the slaughter and destruction that has been waged in the German nation´s name. Yet, having listened to friends from the South and experienced how the national - at least for a certain phase of the struggle - was (and is) an essential part of the narrative of liberation, I have long become a convert. Living in Scotland when the struggles for a national parliament (for now) succeeded sealed my fate. I have become convinced of the usefulness, at times, of nationalism for the progressive cause. But rarely has someone put the need for national struggle as well as my friend Red does in this piece for the Business Mirror. There could be no starker contrast between making the most of what one has - and the idiotic religion of export-led growth that has been pushed down our throats for the last decades ... Do read on:

THE NATIONAL IMPERATIVE

So, what do we do now?

For decades we were told not to mind the stink behind the altar, where pale clerics of the market faith congregated and preached the good word. Year after year, behind the burnished marble slab, beneath the old wood cross beams of consumption, black coat and black tie delivered the liturgy of bling and the brass cross, and the sanctity of the system was upheld. Year after year leaders chased away the phantoms of looming crises with ritual new liberalism and the prescribed brand of amen: our economic fundamentals are strong, our fundamentals are strong. Open the gates of the economy, open your heart. Peace be with you; everything is okay. Year after year we believed, happy in our blinkered place in the constellation of dependencies.

Then came 2008, the year the valves that had been holding back the stench finally broke down, when venom too long contained rushed through the veins.

By 2009, the empire of belief had fallen apart and its pallid high priests were issuing regular missals that years ago would have been denounced by the bishops of Washington as satanic edicts.

Nationalization -- not as a question of 'if' but of 'when' and 'where' and how much control, how much ownership, and how long the long-term intent. Re-regulation. Conservation instead of blind extraction. The cosseting of strategic domestic industries. Massive state spending to generate jobs. A green economy. From his prison cell in 1977 the Filipino martyr Ninoy Aquino issued a national call of comparable subversion and pragmatism, but who remembers? "I believe," wrote Aquino, "that basic and strategic industries must be nationalized because it is too dangerous to leave the determination of national needs and priorities in the hands of a few. My primary concern is national interest and the general welfare, not nationalization."

How interesting the turn of events. In 1988 in her book Unequal Alliance, Robin Broad observed the stagnation of world trade and the glut of international markets. Transnational capital was "no longer moving to the Third World," Broad wrote; it had "already turned toward new arenas for short-term rewards at home -- consumer credit, corporate mergers, and the get-rich-quick gimmicks of financial speculation." "As the world economy has become more integrated," Broad remarked, "effective sovereignty across the developing world has waned" while vulnerabilities have multiplied exponentially.

Yet everyone continued to be sold the idea of export-fueled growth, hinged on the magical power of the global bazaar where economic integration was the goal and the idea of "self-reliance" was considered an anachronism. India bought and paid dearly. Between 1997 and 2007, the journalist and Magsaysay awardee P. Sainath tells us, India recorded the "largest wave of suicides in history", which today "stands at a staggering 182,936" -- all of them ruined farmers. "In the next five years after 2001," by the "time India was well down the WTO garden path in agriculture...." wrote Sainath, "one farmer [was taking] his or her life every 30 minutes on average." The horrific figure is probably underestimated, said Sainath, because the countless women farmers who took their own lives are recorded as mere suicide deaths because, though they do the bulk of work in agriculture, they are mere "farmers' wives." According to Sainath, "Those who killed themselves were overwhelmingly cash crop farmers – growers of cotton, coffee, sugarcane, groundnut, pepper, vanilla" while the "largest number of farm suicides [took place] in the state of Maharashtra, home to the Mumbai Stock Exchange and ... to 21 of India’s 51 dollar billionaires." The same Mumbai of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. All too many bought the theology of the holy market and all too readily traded away the rights of their citizens, the fields that once fed their children and the ecosystems that once sustained their very cultures.

In October 1979, a World Bank report counseled the Philippines "to take advantage of the fact that its wages had 'declined significantly relative to those in competing ... countries' such as Hong Kong and South Korea." And of course the Philippine government took advantage, not recognizing that beneath the basement is a cellar, and underneath that is another basement. An ad in the October 16, 1981 issue of Far Eastern Economic Review talked about such architecture: "Sri Lanka challenges you to match the advantages of its Free Trade Zone, against those being offered elsewhere.... Sri Lanka has the lowest labor rates in Asia." In the midst of a global economic conflagration, autarky cannot be a solution. But neither can it be protracted national suicide based on the notion that we can only follow others because we have always had so little, and based on the childish hope that other countries will act in our interest. Almost 47 years ago the revered senator Lorenzo Tañada reminded us of the wealth that we had always possessed but which we all too often ignored in our mad pursuit of alien promises.

"We have accepted without too much thought the oft-repeated characterization of the Philippines as a capital-poor country," said Tañada on March 10, 1962, "and that therefore we must vigorously attract foreign capital if we are to develop our country." We paid him no attention and over the years we kept exporting what we already had. Our capital. The fruits of our soil. Our minerals. Our best and our brightest. Our dignity.

Dienstag, 3. März 2009

How appropriate ... While thousands protested coal at the Capitol Hill Power Plant, news filtered out that Vattenfall no longer plans a coal fired power station in Berlin. Vattenfall has so far refused to confirm these reports (they are scheduled to meet local politicians next week to present their energy scenario for Berlin ...). But Vattenfall clearly felt the pressure - with groups ranging from the local conservatives to development groups all united in opposing new coal. Friends of mine played a key role (see here and here for examples ...). I can only thank them! If confirmed, this is a huge victory; a huge step forward for the anti coal movement in Germany! Until we have confirmation, though, please continue to show that coal is unnacceptable here ;-). P.S. Schöner Tagesspiegel Kommentar hier.

Dienstag, 20. Januar 2009

To mark the final departure of Dick and Bush today, I dug up this picture. It truly sums up the last eight years, don´t you think? ... It shows - otherwise sombre and serious, of course - delegates to the 2001 climate negotiations in Bonn with a very expressive plank. (One of thousands that made up the Lifeboat to rescue the climate treaty ...) Here is to a new beginning - with much thanks to all American friends. As one banner said in the crowd today: "We have overcome". We all know, we will have to do that again and again and again! But at least not of G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney!

While the world is - rightly - celebrating the first black American president, let me celebrate another great American; Erik Kaiel. Erik is a modern dance choreographer - and a dear friend. Yesterday, his dance "My true north" came first in the danceclick audition. A fitting excuse to post the link here and say: Great stuff, Erik. Thanks for doing what you believe in!

Freitag, 2. Januar 2009

I have marvelled in a previous post at how ani difranco somehow manages to always sing about the things that preoccupy me right at the time when they press on my mind. So, as I await to be a daddy any day now (and still can´t quite picture that bump ´emitting´ a human being that screams, laughs, cries and needs ...), I keep listening to Landing Gear - a song about birth. Read the lyrics here. Then listen: P.S. Ok, so the title refers to a Leonard Cohen song, not one of ani´s, but you got to be flexible ... ;-).

Introducing myself, Daniel Mittler

I am the Political Director of Greenpeace International, heading their Political and Business Unit. I am leading a global team of specialists working on issues ranging from protecting the High Seas to disrupting dirty business models and toxic trade deals. We are responsible for internal strategy advice to campaigns and external representation at global political and business fora. I am a member of the Global Program management team and from September 2014 to June 2015 also managed the Actions and Science Units (two of my favourite parts of Greenpeace). I have also served on the senior management team of Greenpeace’s global forest campaign and on the European Executive Committee.

From 1997-2000 I was a researcher at the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London. I was looking at achieving sustainabilty in cities; mainly because I love cities. The year before, I was living in Bonn serving my country by writing press releases for the youth-wing of Friends of the Earth Germany (BUNDjugend).

Berlin, where I have lived - with a couple of breaks (in Oxford and Amsterdam) - since 2000, is now the (other) place I call home. To be precise: Kreuzberg.

I love kayaking, reading, going to the theatre and cinema, hiking, music (I still try to play the cello) - all the usual middle class stuff. I have a way too loud laugh, but at least I manage to laugh. What really excites me is making the world at the same time a more just and greener place - and creating spaces where people can get active. So, do something!